Daniel Borunda of the El Paso Times is reporting the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has temporarily suspended railway crossings at specific border crossings to shift staffing for a surge of migrants. He writes: U.S. Customs and Border Protection is temporarily suspending freight train railway crossings at border bridges in El Paso and Eagle Pass to shift staffing because of a surging numbers of migrants, CBP said. The border agency temporarily suspended operations at the international railway crossings starting at 8 a.m. (local time) on Monday, Dec. 18, at bridges in El Paso … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2023
The Human Freedom Index 2023
Cato's 2023 Human Freedom Index is out. Download the report below. The ninth annual Human Freedom Index, now available free online, is the most comprehensive freedom index so far created for a globally meaningful set of countries and jurisdictions, representing 98.8 percent of the world’s population. The HFI covers 165 countries based on 86 distinct indicators of personal, civil, and economic freedom, using data from 2000 to 2021, the most recent year for which sufficient data are available. The second year of the coronavirus pandemic witnessed a further decline in global freedom. From … [Read more...]
Vanguard GNMA
Your Survival Guy’s been digging through his investment attic looking for wrapping paper and came across these four letters: GNMA. It’s been a while since I’ve written to you about Vanguard GNMA, and like most investments I make, I still own it. I’m a collector. A pack rat, if you will. I find things I forgot I have all the time. But I never really forgot about Vanguard GNMA. I know many of you, too, wonder about it. Let’s talk about it. It’s been slim pickings through the most recent years with Vanguard GNMA. But those are the cards we were dealt by the Fed’s zero percent interest rates … [Read more...]
Attacks on Container Ships Cause Owners to Pause Travel in Crucial Strait
Costas Paris of The Wall Street Journal reports that container ship operators have asked captains passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to pause their journey until further notice. He writes: Shipping and logistics majors A.P. Moller-Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have stopped their ships from entering the southern entrance of the Red Sea on Friday after attacks on their vessels. Maersk said its decision comes after a near-miss incident involving its Maersk Gibraltar ship on Thursday and another attack on a container vessel on Friday. The company instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound … [Read more...]
Could AI Executive Order Crush Innovation?
Tammy Whitehouse, senior writer at The Wall Street Journal reports that wide-ranging requirements established new standards and directives meant to promote the safe, secure, and trustworthy use of AI in the United States. President Biden’s newly signed AI Executive Order outlines many significant actions federal agencies must take to govern their use of AI, innovate and experiment with it, and effectively manage risks to safety and civil rights. As agencies prepare for the new requirements, leaders in commercial industries can consider how they may be affected by downstream effects and begin … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy Trapped in the Key West Cemetery
Happy Friday. Your Survival Guy and Gal recently spent some time in Key West, our home away from home. On one hot sunny afternoon, we decided it was five o’clock somewhere and strolled down to Schooner Wharf for some barbequed shrimp, oysters, and beer. We could have stayed all night, but dinner was at six. With not a lot of time to spare, we decided to take a shortcut and walk through the cemetery. If you’ve been, you know it’s high ground (if you can consider anything high ground in KW), and the sunsets are amazing. The full moon made it especially eerie. “Let’s pick up the pace,” Your … [Read more...]
Import Prices Fall to Mark Second Straight Decline
Jeffry Bartash of MarketWatch is reporting that the Import-price index has dropped 1.4% in the past year. He writes: The numbers: The cost of imported goods fell 0.4% to mark the second decline in a row, contributing to a slowdown in U.S. inflation more broadly. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had estimated a 0.8% drop. If fuel is set aside, import prices rose a modest 0.2% last month, the government said. Key details: Over the past year, import prices have fallen 1.4%, and they are down 0.4% if fuel is excluded. Cheaper import prices contribute to lower U.S. … [Read more...]
More Seaborne Attacks in Crucial Bab el-Mandeb Strait
Jon Gambrell of The Times of Isreal is reporting that there was an attack on Maersk Gibraltar, a Hong Kong-flagged ship traveling from Oman to Saudi Arabia. It was the latest in a series of seaborne assaults from Yemeni rebels amid the Israel-Hamas war. He writes: A missile fired from territory controlled by Houthi rebels in Yemen missed a container ship traveling through the crucial Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Thursday, a US defense official said, the latest attack threatening shipping in the crucial maritime chokepoint. The attack saw the missile splash harmlessly in the water near the … [Read more...]
RAGE Gauge January: What the Fed Means to You
Once again, the Fed proves it’s a political beast, signaling yesterday that it’s open to rate cuts next year (as many as three) just in time for the election. Wow. You can’t make this stuff up. Inflation is beat? Hardly, as many of you who’ve gone out to dinner this holiday season know all too well. Just when the savers of the world could invest (remember that word?) in bonds that actually pay something, the Fed pulls the rug out from under them. The pressure from Washington and Wall Street to “do something” proved once again to be too much to handle. Americans can feel that something is … [Read more...]
Are Cardboard Prices Pointing to Better Times Ahead?
Ryan Dezember of The Wall Street Journal reports that cardboard producers are boosting prices for the first time since early 2022, which suggests the economy is revving up. He writes: Cardboard prices are pointing to better times ahead. Producers are lifting prices for the thick paper used to make delivery boxes for the first time since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates early last year. It is a sign that the inventory hoarding that characterized the postpandemic recovery is ending. If history is a guide, more expensive cardboard also suggests the economy is revving … [Read more...]
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